A/N: Here's a lil poll for y'all. Zangya, Launch, No. 18, or Tights. (No.18 means the GOAT, Kurrin will be maidenless.) Also, a long chapter ahead.
Gohan's eyes widened in sheer disbelief from the rubble. "M-Mr. Piccolo...? His power... it's incredible!"
Frieza hovered above, his crimson eyes narrowing into lethal slits as he looked down at the Namekian who dared stand in his way.
"Another bug comes to throw its life away," Frieza hissed, purple Ki flickering around his horns. "You think a simple Namekian can stand against me in this state?"
"I'm not just a Namekian anymore," Piccolo replied, his aura igniting into a vibrant, brilliant white blaze that pushed back the heavy pressure of Frieza's form. "Come and find out."
Piccolo didn't wait for Frieza to shoot another Death Beam. He vanished in a flash of blinding white light, reappearing directly in the tyrant's space.
"What?!" Frieza hissed, his crimson eyes straining to track the Namekian's terrifying speed.
Piccolo drove a heavy right straight into the center of Frieza's elongated face. The impact reverberated like a thunderclap across the sea, snapping the tyrant's heavy skull back and blasting a cloud of purple blood from his snout.
Before Frieza could recover his balance, Piccolo pivoted, driving a sharp, ki-infused elbow straight into Frieza's cracked ribs, right on the exact spot Escallion had damaged earlier.
CRACK!
Frieza let out a wet, raspy shriek of agony, sent spinning through the air. The tyrant thrashed his massive tail in a desperate, blind counter, whipping it toward Piccolo's head like a heavy iron cable.
Piccolo didn't even bother dodging. He raised his left forearm, taking the blow head-on. The shockwave parted the clouds above, but Piccolo didn't budge an inch. With lightning-fast reflexes, his hand clamped tightly around the tip of Frieza's tail, arresting his momentum completely.
"Is that the best you've got?" Piccolo growled, his voice carrying the deep, resonant echoes of Nail's pride. "And here I thought the mighty Frieza was supposed to be invincible."
"You... INSECT!" Frieza roared, his voice cracking into a maniacal scream.
From his four shoulder horns, a chaotic storm of sharp, purple ki blasts ignited, raining down on Piccolo at point-blank range. Explosions engulfed the sky in a blinding sphere of purple fire.
High above, Vegeta shielded his face, his jaw trembling as he watched the sky burn. It's impossible.
"A Namekian... matching Frieza's third form?! Where did this monster get such power?!"
The smoke split wide open. Piccolo burst through the inferno completely unscathed, his white aura burning like a roaring furnace. He brought both hands together above his head, locking his fingers into a sledgehammer fist.
BOOM!
Piccolo brought the full-power blow crashing down onto the top of Frieza's elongated head, sending the Emperor of the Universe plummeting out of the sky like a falling star, smashing face-first into the shoreline below with an explosion that shook the entire continent.
Down in the rubble, Gohan wiped a smear of dirt and sweat from his forehead. Seeing Piccolo holding his own against Frieza's terrifying third form bought them a desperate, fleeting window.
"Hang on, Escallion," Gohan grunted, slinging the giant Saiyan's heavy, limp arm over his small shoulder.
With a strained gasp, Gohan started flying, taking off low to the ground to keep out of Frieza's line of sight. He carried Escallion's massive frame toward a secluded rock formation nearby, where Krillin was just sitting up, blinking in complete shock as a soft, soothing green light faded from Dende's hands.
"Gohan!" Krillin gasped, clutching his chest where Frieza's horn had impaled him just moments ago. "I'm... I'm completely fine! Dende's powers, they—"
Krillin froze, his eyes widening as he saw the battered, unconscious Escallion slumping over Gohan's shoulder. The warrior's battle armor was torn to shreds, his skin seared and bleeding from the catastrophic toll of his wild transformation.
"Dende, please!" Gohan pleaded, gently lowering Escallion onto his back against the earth. "He used everything he had to buy us time. He's out cold!"
Dende didn't hesitate. The young Namekian rushed forward, kneeling beside Escallion and placing his small hands directly over the warrior's shattered chest. A warm, brilliant emerald glow erupted from Dende's palms, enveloping Escallion's battered body.
Instantly, the white-hot agony tearing through Escallion's muscle tissue began to cool. The deep lacerations along his cheek and shoulders sealed shut, his cracked ribs knitted back together, and the drained, empty void in his soul began to flood with fresh, roaring Saiyan energy.
Above them, the sky detonated again as Piccolo's relentless assault forced Frieza back through a ridge of solid granite.
Krillin looked from the sky down to Escallion, his jaw tight. "If Dende patches him up... with that Saiyan ability to grow stronger after near-death... how high is his power level going to jump now?"
The warm, soothing emerald light from Dende's hands spread over Escallion's chest, slowly mending torn muscle and restoring stamina. But as the Saiyan's ragged breathing began to steady, a sudden, oppressive spike in pressure snapped Gohan and Krillin's attention back to the sky.
The dynamic above had shifted violently.
Piccolo flew backward through a plume of smoke, skidding through the air before catching his footing. He was panting, a dark trail of purple blood trickling down his arm.
Frieza was floating in the center of a cratering storm of purple Ki. He was covered in deep gashes, his armor cracked and bleeding from the combined beatings he'd taken from Escallion and Piccolo, but his initial panic was completely gone. In its place was a cold, sadistic efficiency.
Frieza had adapted.
"Did you really think a few clever martial arts tricks could bridge the gap between us, Namekian?" Frieza's raspy voice echoed across the barren landscape.
Before Piccolo could re-engage, Frieza vanished.
A split-second later, a barrage of high-speed death beams tore through the air. Piccolo reacted instantly, dodging left and right, but the sheer volume of the rapid-fire assault was overwhelming.
THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!
One beam grazed Piccolo's shoulder, another pierced his thigh, and a third clipped his side. Wounded and thrown off balance, Piccolo's guard dropped for a fraction of a second, and Frieza capitalized instantly.
The tyrant blitzed forward, driving his heavy, elongated head straight into Piccolo's chest with the force of a battering ram. The impact smashed the air out of the Namekian's lungs, sending him plummeting toward the earth. Frieza followed him down in a purple blur, catching Piccolo mid-air with his heavy tail, wrapping it tightly around the warrior's neck, and slamming him repeatedly into the jagged rock spires below.
"MR. PICCOLO!" Gohan yelled, his hands balling into trembling fists as he watched his mentor get systematically broken down.
"Dammit... Frieza was caught off guard at first, but his power in that third form is still too high!" Krillin grit his teeth, sweat pouring down his face. He glanced down anxiously at Escallion. "Dende, how's he doing?! We're running out of time!"
Dende's hands trembled, the green glow flaring brighter as he pushed his healing magic to its absolute limit. "Almost... he's absorbing everything I have!"
Escallion remained motionless beneath Dende's hands, his chest rising and falling in deep, heavy breaths as the green light worked tirelessly to repair the shattered Saiyan. His mind was still submerged in dark unconsciousness, but beneath his skin, his Ki was steadily swelling like a coiled spring.
"Hang on, Escallion... just a little longer," Dende whispered, sweat dripping from his chin as he poured every ounce of his power into the healing process.
Up above, Piccolo was pushed to the absolute brink. Frieza's heavy tail snapped around his throat, choking off his air while the tyrant hammered a cruel barrage of sharp knees into his abdomen.
"What's the matter, Namekian? Where did all that grand talk go?" Frieza mocked, his raspy voice dripping with malice. "Is this the absolute limit of your species?"
"GET OFF HIM!" Gohan screamed.
Unable to watch any longer, Gohan rocketed into the sky. Krillin was right on his heels, his teeth gritted in sheer desperation.
"Gohan, attack from the front! I'll cover the flank!" Krillin yelled.
Gohan threw a furious combination of punches at Frieza's face. The tyrant casually raised a forearm to block the boy's blows, but the momentary distraction forced his grip on Piccolo to loosen just enough.
Capitalizing on the opening, Krillin held his hand flat above his head. A bright, razor-sharp yellow energy disk materialized, spinning violently with a deafening, high-pitched hum.
"DESTRUCTO DISC!" Krillin bellowed, whipping his arm forward.
The lethal spinning blade cut through the air, aimed squarely at Frieza's neck. Sensing the incoming threat, Frieza tilted his elongated head back at the last split-second to dodge—
SLICE!
The razor-thin disk missed Frieza's throat, but it sheared clean through the thick middle section of his thashing tail.
A fountain of dark purple blood sprayed into the sky as the severed end of Frieza's tail fell toward the sea below.
"AAAAAAGH! MY TAIL! YOU FILTHY, INSIGNIFICANT WORM!" Frieza shrieked, his voice cracking into a high-pitched, psychotic rage.
Releasing Piccolo entirely, the tyrant clutched his bleeding stub, his crimson eyes locking onto Krillin with pure, murder-driven hatred.
Frieza's shrieks of agony echoed over the churning sea, his severed tail plunging into the waves below. Dark purple blood sprayed from the fresh stub, staining his white carapace as the tyrant clutched his wound, his eyes wide and trembling with absolute, psychotic fury.
"My tail... my beautiful tail..." Frieza gasped, his raspy voice turning into a serrated scream. "I WILL TEAR YOU ALL TO PIECES! I WILL GRIND YOU AND THIS PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A PLANET INTO DUST!"
Piccolo gasped for air, his heavy boots skidding to a halt beside Gohan and Krillin. His white cape was gone, his purple gi shredded, but his dark eyes burned as he stepped in front of the two earthlings.
"Form up! Now!" Piccolo barked, his voice leaving no room for argument. "He's lost his mind. Don't try to trade blows with him, stay grouped, cover each other's blind spots, and buy time!"
Gohan dropped into a fighting stance, his small body trembling, yet his Ki flaring bright and defiant. Krillin took his position on Piccolo's left, his hands raised, cold sweat stinging his eyes. Together, the three formed a tight triangular line, a fragile wall standing against the Frost Demon.
The sky tore open as Frieza charged, his aura exploding into a jagged, chaotic purple sphere that flattened the ocean beneath them. He hit their defensive line like a falling meteor.
BOOM!
Piccolo caught Frieza's right hook on his crossed forearms, the kinetic force cracking the bedrock miles beneath their feet. Gohan instantly blitzed in from the flank, firing a volley of rapid-fire Ki blasts directly into Frieza's face to blind him, while Krillin dove low, sweeping his leg toward the tyrant's ankles to disrupt his balance.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Frieza roared, ignoring Krillin's sweep entirely and unleashing an omnidirectional shockwave of death beams directly from his body.
THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!
"Get back!" Piccolo yelled, throwing his arms wide to expand his white energy barrier.
The lasers slammed into Piccolo's shield, shattering it like glass and sending all three warriors skidding back through the sky. Gohan caught Krillin by the back of his gi, spinning to take the blunt impact of a granite ridge behind them.
Before the dust could clear, Frieza was already upon them, his elongated skull casting a long, demonic shadow over the three exhausted fighters. He slammed his elbow into Piccolo's jaw, threw a vicious backfist that sent Gohan crashing through the spires, and grabbed Krillin by his throat, choking the breath right out of the martial artist.
"You like cutting things, little earthling?!" Frieza hissed, raising two fingers toward Krillin's forehead, a crimson beam charging at point-blank range. "Let's see how you look sliced in half!"
"KRILLIN!" Gohan screamed from the rubble, his eyes turning wild as a sudden, massive surge of hidden anger began to pulse within his chest.
Down in the secluded crater, Dende's hands finally stopped glowing. The young Namekian fell back onto his hands, panting heavily from complete exhaustion.
Above him, Escallion lay still until a single, sharp heartbeat reverberated through his chest like a war drum.
THUMP.
Escallion's fingers twitched against the dirt, the air around his unconscious body beginning to vibrate violently.
Frieza's thumb pressed hard against Krillin's forehead, the crimson point of his Death Beam burning hotter by the second as a sadistic grin stretched across his flat, demonic snout. Krillin clawed helplessly at the tyrant's iron grip around his neck, his vision turning red.
"Any last words, you miserable little insect?" Frieza sneered, his voice a raspy, grating hiss.
Gohan stood frozen in the rubble, staring up at his dying friend. His small frame began to tremble, not from fear, but from a dark, surging fury that boiled over every limit he had. His teeth gritted so hard they nearly shattered, and the veins along his temples bulged.
Then, he snapped.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
Gohan's aura detonated into a roaring, blinding pillar of Ki that split the Namekian sky open. The shockwave crushed the ground beneath his boots to dust, sending boulders levitating into the air before disintegrating into fine powder.
Frieza's crimson eyes widened in genuine shock, dropping Krillin as he turned toward the sudden, terrifying pressure.
Before the tyrant could even raise a hand, Gohan rocketed across the sky in a flash of ki. He threw his hands above his head, palms overlapping facing outward, locking into the iconic stance.
A blinding, crackling orb of golden energy erupted behind his hands like a miniature sun, humming with high-pitched, electric voltage.
"MA... SEN... KO..."
Frieza gritted his teeth, crossing his heavy forearms over his chest to shield himself just as Gohan thrust his palms straight forward.
"HA!"
A colossal, roaring torrent of golden destruction erupted from Gohan's hands, hurtling through the sky and slamming dead-center into Frieza's guard.
BOOM!
The force of the impact shook the entire continent, the wind pressure parting the sea for miles below. Frieza gasped, his heels skidding back through the sky as the sheer, impossible weight of the young Saiyan's raw power pushed him back. Sweat broke out across Frieza's forehead as he struggled against the burning beam, his teeth bared in fury.
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!" Gohan screamed through the strain, pouring every single drop of his latent power into the attack.
With a final, frantic roar, Frieza dug deep into his reserve strength, shoving both hands outward to deflect the massive beam skyward. The Masenko sliced clean through the Namekian clouds, detonating high in the atmosphere in a blinding, mushroom-cloud explosion of golden light that illuminated the entire horizon.
Gohan fell forward onto his hands and knees in the sky, his aura completely dying out, his small body panting heavily from total exhaustion.
Frieza lowered his smoking, scorched forearms, his third form heavily bruised and bleeding from the raw force of the blast. His eyes burned with psychotic humiliation.
"You... FILTHY LITTLE MONKEY!" Frieza shrieked, raising two fingers toward the helpless boy to execute him once and for all.
He never got the chance.
A massive, calloused hand reached out through the lingering smoke behind Frieza, clamping onto the back of the tyrant's elongated head like a vice.
Frieza froze instantly, the crimson light on his fingertips flickering out.
Escallion had returned.
His jet-black hair whipped in the wind, his dark eyes sharp, calm, and completely lethal. The Zenkai boost had pushed his base power to an absurd, terrifying new threshold. Holding Frieza frozen in place by his skull, Escallion glanced over his shoulder at the exhausted Gohan.
"Good job, kid," Escallion said quietly, his voice low and steady. He turned his cold gaze down to the trembling tyrant in his grip. "I'll take it from here."
Vegeta's eyes were locked on Escallion. The sheer, overwhelming power radiating off the Saiyan wasn't just higher than before; it completely invalidated any thought that the prince was the Super Saiyan.
"Impossible..." Vegeta's jaw trembled, his gloved fists clenched so hard the leather cracked. He was on the brink of death. Dende healed him, and his power jumped through the roof... 'A Zenkai boost! That's how his base form is keeping up with Frieza's grotesque third form!'
A sudden, sharp realization struck Vegeta like a thunderbolt. The panic in his eyes melted away, replaced by a dark, desperate glint of ambition.
'If trash like him can reach that level just by crawling back from the edge of death... then a true Saiyan Prince... the rightful ruler of our race...'
Vegeta didn't hesitate. He dropped out of the sky in a swift, silent streak, landing right in front of Dende, Krillin, and the battered Piccolo.
Dende gasped, backing up a step in terror at the ruthless Prince's sudden arrival.
"Listen to me, Namekian," Vegeta barked, his voice sharp and demanding as he pointed a trembling finger straight at his own chest. "You're going to blast a hole clean through my ribs, right now."
Krillin's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "WHAT?! Vegeta, have you completely lost your mind?!"
"Shut up, Earthling!" Vegeta spat, not taking his intense gaze off Dende. "Saiyans grow exponentially stronger every time they recover from near-fatal injuries. Look at Escallion! Look at what just happened to him! If I take a mortal blow right now and this little brat heals me, my power will skyrocket past everyone. I'll become the ultimate warrior, the Super Saiyan!"
Dende shrank back, his hands shaking as he stared at the ruthless Saiyan who had slaughtered his village. "I... I can't... I won't help you..."
"You WILL if you want to survive this planet!" Vegeta growled, stepping closer, his Ki flaring with aggressive urgency. "Piccolo! Blast me! Do it now before Frieza realizes what we're doing!"
Krillin stared at Vegeta, his jaw hanging open as sweat trickled down his temple. "You... you're crazy, Vegeta! What if I accidentally kill you?!"
"Just do it, you coward!" Vegeta snapped, stepping forward and grabbing Krillin by the collar of his armour, pulling him face-to-face. "Put a hole straight through my chest! Right now, while Frieza's attention is on Escallion!"
Piccolo folded his arms, his brow furrowed in utter disgust. "I'm not helping you, Saiyan. I don't trust you as far as I can throw you."
"I don't need your help, Namekian; I need his energy blast!" Vegeta growled, releasing Krillin and backing up a few paces. He spread his arms wide, completely dropping his Ki defense and exposing his chest. "Come on, Earthling! Shoot! If I die, we all die anyway when Frieza decides to blow up this miserable rock!"
Krillin looked back toward the sea, where Escallion was currently holding 3rd Form Frieza by the skull. He knew Escallion couldn't keep Frieza pinned forever, and if Frieza got any stronger, they were dead.
"Dammit..." Krillin muttered, raising his hand with trembling fingers. Sweat stung his eyes as he gathered a concentrated yellow beam of Ki at his fingertips. "If this goes wrong, don't haunt me, Vegeta!"
"Fire, you fool!"
THWIP!
The sharp, high-powered energy piercer shot from Krillin's fingers, tearing straight through Vegeta's chest armor, muscle, and bone. Dark blood spurted from the exit wound on Vegeta's back as he let out a choked gasp, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. He collapsed onto his knees, coughing up blood before falling flat on his face in the dirt.
"Vegeta!" Krillin gasped, stepping back in horror at what he'd just done. "Dende, hurry! Heal him!"
Dende stood frozen, his small hands trembling at his sides. He looked down at the bleeding Saiyan prince, the very monster who had ruthlessly slaughtered his village and murdered his fellow Namekians without a second thought.
"No..." Dende whispered, stepping back, his eyes filled with lingering trauma and fear. "He's evil... he killed my people. If I heal him, he'll just turn on us!"
"Dende, please!" Krillin pleaded, dropping to his knees beside the boy. "I hate him too, but without his power, we don't stand a chance if Frieza turns it up another notch! You have to do it!"
Vegeta lay in the dirt, his breathing ragged and shallow, his life force fading fast as he waited in agonized silence for the Namekian's choice.
Piccolo stepped forward, his heavy boots crunching against the gravel. He knelt down next to Dende, placing a large, green hand gently on the young Namekian's trembling shoulder.
"I know what he did to our people, Dende," Piccolo said softly, his voice carrying the calm, steady weight of a leader. "He's a ruthless bastard who deserves nothing from us. But right now, pride and revenge will get us all killed. Frieza is a threat to every living soul in this universe. If we don't use every tool we have—even him—there won't be a Namek left to save."
Dende looked up at Piccolo, tears welling in his wide eyes. He looked at the fallen Saiyan prince, whose breathing was rapidly deteriorating into a faint, shallow rattle, and then out toward the coast where Escallion was holding the tyrant at bay.
Dende wiped his eyes with his sleeve and took a deep, shaky breath. "Okay... I'll do it. For Namek."
Dende stepped over to Vegeta's limp body, kneeling and extending his small hands over the gaping chest wound. A bright, soothing emerald glow burst from his palms, wrapping around Vegeta's shattered ribs and torn tissue.
Meanwhile, out over the boiling sea, the brief stalemate was breaking.
Frieza's entire body trembled with psychotic fury in Escallion's crushing grip. "Your... filthy, monkey... HAND OFF ME!"
Frieza flared his dark purple Ki, driving a razor-sharp elbow backward directly into Escallion's side. Escallion absorbed the blow, gritting his teeth, but the sheer explosive shockwave forced him to release his grip. Frieza spun around in mid-air, his elongated third-form skull practically vibrating with utter humiliation and rage.
"I have entertained you miserable monkeys long enough!" Frieza screamed, his voice cracking into a terrifying, high-pitched screech that rattled the tectonic plates beneath the ocean floor. "I have never shown this, but you've pushed me past my limit! I'm going to show you absolute, inescapable despair!"
Frieza crossed his arms tightly over his chest as a massive, blinding white shell of pure energy began to form around his body, cracking the sky above and triggering massive lightning strikes across the entire horizon.
Back on the cliffside, the deep hole in Vegeta's chest fully sealed shut.
Vegeta's eyes snapped open, glowing with a wild, terrifying intensity. He leapt to his feet, a dark, arrogant laugh erupting from his chest as his Ki detonated into a potent aura that shattered the surrounding rocks. His base power hadn't just increased; it had skyrocketed to a level he had only ever dreamed of.
"HAHAHAHA!" Vegeta roared, throwing his head back. "It worked! I can feel it... the absolute pinnacle of power! I have finally crossed the threshold... I am the Super Saiyan!"
The white energy shell surrounding Frieza cracked, shattering into a million blinding shards that dissolved into the burning sky.
When the blinding light faded, the grotesque, elongated nightmare was gone. In its place stood a sleek, unnervingly compact figure. Pristine white skin, smooth purple bio-armor plates on his shoulders, chest, and head, and a long, slender tail swishing lazily behind him. Frieza's final form radiated an absolute, quiet horror, a power so immense and concentrated that the surrounding air vibrated with a sickening, high-pitched hum.
"I must congratulate you miserable worms," Frieza said softly, his voice smooth, refined, and chillingly calm. "You are the very first to ever witness this form. Consider it an honor before your extinction."
Before Escallion, Piccolo, or Krillin could react, a loud, booming laugh echoed across the wrecked landscape.
"HAHAHAHA! Look at you!"
Vegeta stepped out to the front of the group, his chest puffed out, a manic, arrogant smirk plastered across his face. His newly boosted aura flared violently and brightly, sending shockwaves through the dirt.
"Is that little smooth body supposed to scare us, Frieza?" Vegeta mocked, cracking his knuckles with supreme confidence. Vegeta curled his fingers into a loose fist and extended his thumb inward to point heavily at himself. His chest was puffed out, his head was slightly tilted back, and his face featured a smug, hyper-confident grin "You're too late! While you were busy playing around with your grotesque transformations, I have achieved the ultimate power of our race. The near-death state has unlocked my true potential!"